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Wednesday, April 23, 2014

I have been tatting behind the scenes, working on a motif that I will be making into a hexagonal mat. I don't want to post photos until it's finished, which will take several weeks. So, in the meantime, here is a free pattern that I completed a few months ago:

I was hesitant to post this pattern because it's probably not an original idea. I used my iPad to estimate the positioning of the rings in each flower, and then made the rest up as I went along.

After I finished the pattern, I looked through all of my tatting books and online to see if I had accidentally copied something that was already out there. I was sure I would find something that looked exactly like my pattern, but surprisingly I did not.

When I draw more complex pieces on my iPad, I can be fairly certain that they are original. Edgings are tricky business because there's only so much you can fit into a small space. Thus, the probability of creating something that's already been done is pretty high.

I may come back to this edging in the future to see what else I can do with it. My original plan was to make an edging, a bookmark, a cross, and a heart, all with the same pattern. I quickly got distracted by other design ideas so I never got around to it, but I think it would be a good learning experience to see how many things I can make with this edging.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Some of you may recall my topic "Designing Patterns on the iPad" posted on InTatters earlier this year. There were quite a few people who wanted to know if there were any comparable drawing programs for the computer, and at the time, I don't think there were.

Well, now all you computer users are in luck! One of our fellow tatters has teamed up with her husband to create a drawing program to help design your own patterns. It's free, and you can find out more about it on her blog: Elaine's Tatting Aterier.

I tried it out last night and this is what I came up with:

I drew a triangular shaped motif because the App on my iPad doesn't make triangles. I really love how picots have been incorporated into the program. You can do a lot more with it (change picot size, colors, etc.) but I just did a quick run through.

I still have a lot of designs on my to do list, but I will definitely try my hand at creating something with this program in the future!

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Just a quick post today about comment notifications. I have my preferences set to email me when people comment on my blog, and I had assumed that others would be emailed when I replied to their comments, as long as I hit the "reply" button under their comment when doing so. Well, after a bit of research yesterday, I learned that Blogger does not support this feature (although WordPress does). The only way for people to be notified of my response is if they 1) check back on the blog post, or 2) subscribe to all comments on that post...and who does that? Not me.

The only solution I was able to find is to reply both on my blog and to the email notification that I receive. So, in the future, if I respond to a comment you will see it in your inbox as well (that is, if you have an email account associated with your comment).

Back to posting about tatting later this week!

Update: After blogging for a little more than half a year, I've noticed that

1) Lots of people don't have an email address associated with their account, and

2) Often times, people do come back to check on the comments section of a post after they have written something

So, I've decided to continue responding to comments in the comments section, but only to email a response if it is important, such as an answer to a question. This way, I won't feel badly about clogging people's inboxes with responses such as "Thanks!"

I try to respond in the comment section as much as I can, though tiredness can sometimes get in the way :-/

Friday, April 11, 2014

Sometimes life gets in the way and tatting gets put on hold. I thought about what I could post when I don't have any new tatting to show, and came up with an idea. I'm going to start a "Design with Me" series where I blog about how each of my designs came to be. Today will be the first post, and I will talk about "Solstice," which can be found on the free patterns tab.

I draw all of my designs on my iPad, using a free app called Kaleidoscope Drawing Pad. This app has undergone many changes, including the relatively recent addition of being able to choose the colors you draw with. I wanted to test the new feature to see if I could draw all shuttle 1 work in one color, and shuttle 2 work in another:

Friday, April 4, 2014

Over the past two years, I have amassed a sizable collection of tatting books.

I have a few favorites...among them is A Tatter's Workbook. Here it is, pictured with my own version of a workbook, contained in a binder purchased at Target.

I like this book, not for the patterns, but for the idea behind it. Someone in New England found an old binder filled with pages of tatting patterns complete with sewn in samples of the work. The binder is believed to have originated in the 1920's. The tatter who created this work remains anonymous and is simply referred to as "A Tatter."

Inside the 2001 publication, there are over 100 pages filled with images of the tatting and typewriter (sometimes handwritten) instructions for the work.

After purchasing this book, I often thought about how I could make my own tatter's workbook. A few months ago, when I started to design my own patterns, it became clear. I would put samples of my work and instructions into a binder as well.